Young caribou hunters need to learn respect, says Fort McPherson, N.W.T., elder
Caribou return to Dempster Highway, as well as 'lots and lots' of hunters, Abe Stewart says
An elder in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., says the community has 'come to life' since porcupine caribou returned to the region, but he says young hunters aren't respecting the animals or the land.
Conservation officers say more caribou than usual are being found left injured or dead this year off the Dempster Highway in northern Yukon. They suspect that hunters got carried away this year because the porcupine caribou herd had been avoiding its traditional migratory route along the road for the past few years.
Abe Stewart was in the area when he says more than 100,000 caribou first arrived, as well as "lots and lots" of hunters.
"People were all over, on the Yukon side of the border and the Northwest Territories side. There was caribou all over the place."
Stewart says most older hunters are killing caribou to put food on the table, but that's not always the case with the younger generation.
"From what I see, there was no respect at all, and I believe they just go out there for the sport of it, to have fun and to shoot at something."
Many young hunters, Stewart says, are also leaving caribou injured.
"It's one thing that hasn't been taught is how to respect anything off the land, anything that you use for food."
Parents need to teach respect
Stewart says parents need to go hunting with their children to instill respect for the land and animals.
He regularly goes out with his family to make sure they know how to hunt.
"I show them how to skin it and cut it up and parts to take, and I also stress to them that when we get a caribou we need to keep it clean."
Stewart says the return of caribou to the region has been great for the community of Fort McPherson, though.
"[We had] darkness for years because our caribou were not here. We depend on it and that's one of the main sources of food for us, that's the way we grew up, the way we were raised.
"It just seems like everything has come to life again."